Junior Thomas Braslavksy, a Hatchet columnist, urges GW to adopt more alcohol education policies in the light of new information about the dangers of alcohol.

Alcohol is the most harmful drug – worse than heroin, crack cocaine and methamphetamines.

That is what a UK-based group of scientists published last week in a study in the medical journal The Lancet. The researchers ranked 20 drugs on 16 criteria relating to the drugs’ harmful effects on individuals, and alcohol came out on top. Alcohol led in criteria like risk for injury, economic cost and impact on the community.

Bringing this message closer to home, the EMeRG staff is working harder than ever this semester, treating and evacuating scores of students in alcohol-related situations. According to a press release that was up on the EMeRG website Friday – but was removed over the weekend – this year’s Halloween weekend saw 27 alcohol-related calls to our University’s volunteer emergency service, which is a record.